‘Outside money:’ Shaheen takes plenty of it

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen sure talks a lot about “outside” money. She raises campaign funds by claiming to protect the state from outside “special interests” who might help Scott Brown. Those poor donors probably have no idea how much money Shaheen raises from out-of-state special interests.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign donations, Shaheen has raised 75 percent of her 2014 campaign cash from out of state. For her career, Shaheen’s top 10 metropolitan areas for campaign donations are, in order: Boston; New York City; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Lowell, Mass; San Francisco; Manchester; Chicago; Portsmouth; Philadelphia. She sure does hate “outside” money.

Shaheen has unleashed a relentless stream of attacks on Brown in an attempt to tie him to “Wall Street,” “Big Oil,” and “the Koch brothers.” But Wall Street is Shaheen’s No. 5 industry donor. She has no problem with billionaire super donors, happily taking money from the New York City-based daughter-in-law of left-wing billionaire George Soros. As for Big Oil, heiress Annie Earhart, who inherited her wealth from oil tycoon John Paul Getty, is a Shaheen donor from California.

For the 2014 election, Shaheen’s No. 1 industry donor is “lawyers/law firms,” No. 6 is “lobbyists,” No. 7 is “securities & investment,” and No. 8 is “TV, Movies, Music.” By contrast, lobbyists are nowhere to be seen on Scott Brown’s career list of top 20 industry donors, and the bogeyman “oil and gas” is down at No. 15.

Candidates for U.S. Senate from New Hampshire always raise money out of state, and Shaheen is no exception. They also tend to take a lot of special interest money, and Shaheen is no exception. But she is exceptional in portraying a potential opponent as a tool of out-of-state special interests while taking millions from out-of-state special interests herself.